Tag Archives: UK

New research of intelligence documents suggests that high government officials of the United Kingdom, France and the United States of America allowed Mladic and his army to proceed to the safe area of Srebrenica in 1995, while being aware of the risk of humanitarian disaster. (more…)

On 21 January, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the UK Mission to the UN, stated at the UN Special event to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi extermination camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau that: ‘Where a state is failing to act to protect its own citizens or, worse, is actively persecuting and killing them, the international community has an equal and shared responsibility to do all it can to protect populations at risk.’

Professor Manfred Novak, United Nations special rapporteur on torture between 2004 and 2010, has stated that the United Kingdom must undertake independent investigations into allegations of its involvement in the CIA’s torture programme. Contrary to the assurances given by both the Labour and coalition government, Novak gathered evidence suggesting that the United States utilised the British overseas territory of Diego Garcia for detaining individuals. The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that they had “received a file of evidence from the Metropolitan police investigating two specific cases of alleged rendition of named individuals to Libya and their alleged ill-treatment” with the apparent assistance of MI6. The CPS correspondent also stated that they were “now in a position to begin considering the material with a view to making a charging decision”. (more…)

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The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is illustrative of a global health issue which requires collective global action. The rapid spread of the virus is alarming health experts. At the time of writing, the number of reported deaths has reached more than 3,338, and the virus could spread even further across borders. States that are most affected are Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, but Ebola cases have also been reported in Nigeria, Senegal, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The UK government has pledged GBP 12m to help France tackle the problem of ‘illegal immigrants’ trying to enter Britain through Calais. The deal, announced on 20 September 2014 by the UK home secretary, Theresa May, and France’s minister of interior, Bernard Cazeneuve, will also see increased cooperation between the two countries’ law enforcement agencies. (more…)